Castro sees importance of framing come into focus

2014 Astros: Game-by-game

SEATTLE — Even through the first few games of the season, there was a belief among the Astros that Jason Castro’s pitch framing had improved. There’s no question about that now.

One website that tracks framing statistics, StatCorner, has Castro as the best framer in the game to start the season. There are different ways of measuring a catcher’s receiving effectiveness, so even if Castro shouldn’t be considered the absolute best, it doesn’t really matter.

The point is that the 26-year-old, previously regarded as an average to slightly below average framer, has markedly improved his ability.

“Definitely,” Castro said when asked if he felt a change. “Last year we focused on more like body position. We didn’t really have much of a framing conversation. I knew it was something that was coming to the forefront a little bit, but this year during a sit-down with (front-office analyst Mike Fast, we broke) it down into its small components.

“Not only what are they looking for, but what’s most effective. Different ways to set up,, some nuance things of what to do with your glove on certain pitches and stuff. It’s I think it’s been really helpful.”

Despite a low average to start the season — .193 entering Tuesday — Castro’s had no problem drawing a walk. He hit his fourth home run of the season in the first inning Tuesday night against the Mariners.

But most any catcher will tell you that they take most pride in handling the pitching staff.

Castro and other Astros catchers woke up extraordinarily early to work on catching skills during spring training with instructors Jeff Murphy and Mark Bailey. Receiving was the central focus, and pitching machines were used to practice.

Receiving skills have always been known and discussed. What’s changed in the past few years is the way the skills are analyzed, because of the work with pitch data that folks like Fast have dedicated themselves to.

“We haven’t really shifted,” A’s assistant general manager Farhan Zaidi said of how the A’s instruct their catchers. “I think our bullpen coach, our guys that work with the catchers — receiving has always been sort of a skill. Guys want soft hands, they want you to suck balls into the zone. So the analysis is new, but the principle and the value of it isn’t. I think it’s something that guys can get better at absolutely.”

A good framer will be able to ensure that a pitch thrown in the strike zone looks like a strike to the umpire, and, on occasion, that a pitch thrown outside the zone too looks like a strike.

Minimizing physical movement outside of the glovehand is key. The head shouldn’t bob, for example.

“I think trying to keep your body as still as possible,” Castro said when asked how to make sure a low pitch doesn’t look bad to an umpire, “without allowing the ball to take your glove any lower. So there are ways to kind of go about catching a pitch that, a low pitch. You don’t want to come at it from above it, or else it’ll just take your glove down. So we try to, on low pitches come from the bottom up, and keep your body as still as possible so that the umpire doesn’t have a chance to cue off you going down to the pitch at all.”

Astros assistant general manager David Stearns said that Castro has been outstanding defensively across the board.

Castro and back-up catcher Carlos Corporan are able to receive feedback about their catching on a computer post-game, and the helps Castro continue to see what he’s doing well and how he can improve.

“We have a program that I’m able to see all my framing from the night before,” Castro said. “So I can go back and see ones that I did well, that I got a good score on, as opposed to other ones that maybe for whatever reason were the opposite. I think that’s been really helpful. Probably seeing the negative ones mores than the positive ones, seeing things that I can try to correct on certain pitches.”